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Northeastern's Research Blog

About iNSolution

Welcome to Northeastern University’s science and research blog. We call it iNSolution because that’s what our faculty and student researchers are in the business of—finding solutions to societal problems while simultaneously contributing to the fundamental knowledge base of their respective fields.

Contact us

We want to hear your ideas and endeavors, your questions, compliments, and complaints. Please feel free to email us at g.stmartin@neu.edu or get in touch the old fashioned way by calling 617.373.5463. Also, don’t forget to comment on the posts! A blog is better when its readers are also part of its voice.

How a plant eats its prey

In a letter to his close friend geol­o­gist Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin once wrote, “I care more about the Drosera than the origin of all the species in the world.”

He had become obsessed with the car­niverous plant, which wraps when it receives signal from its ten­ta­cles that nitrogen is nearby. A fly or a piece of meat would induce this mech­a­nism, but a droplet of water would not. Darwin was fas­ci­nated and fond that it was more respon­sive to touch than any nerve in the human body.

Mechan­ical engi­neering pro­fessor Mon­eesh Upmanyu is also fas­ci­nated by this curious crea­ture. He has taken on an entirely new research tra­jec­tory to study the mechanics of this curling behavior and will be sharing his results in a few months.

In the mean time, check out this video of a Drosera (aka Sundew) chowing on a fruit fly.

About the Writer

Angela Herring is the science writer for the Northeastern news team. In a past life, she made fullerenes (aka bucky balls) at a small chemical company outside of Boston while freelance writing for the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Broad Institute and Novartis Biomedical Research Institutes. She earned her Bachelor's degree in chemistry and literature from Bennington College in 2005. In addition to writing stories for the News@Northeastern, she also maintains the university's research blog: iNSolution.

News@Northeastern is Northeastern University’s primary source of news and information. Whether it happens in the classroom, in a laboratory, or on another continent, we bring you timely stories about every aspect of life, learning and discovery at Northeastern. Contact the news team